God and science?

Question

my class is having a debate and my debate statement is "God is compatible with science" does anyone have any info or arguments on how god is compatible with science? any historical people i can use as a reference ?

Answer 1

This should get you an "A"

Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

Einstein is probably the best known and most highly revered scientist of the twentieth century, and is associated with major revolutions in our thinking about time, gravity, and the conversion of matter to energy (E=mc2). Although never coming to belief in a personal God, he recognized the impossibility of a non-created universe. The Encyclopedia Britannica says of him: "Firmly denying atheism, Einstein expressed a belief in "Spinoza's God who reveals himself in the harmony of what exists." This actually motivated his interest in science, as he once remarked to a young physicist: "I want to know how God created this world, I am not interested in this or that phenomenon, in the spectrum of this or that element. I want to know His thoughts, the rest are details." Einstein's famous epithet on the "uncertainty principle" was "God does not play dice" - and to him this was a real statement about a God in whom he believed. A famous saying of his was "Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind."

Answer 2

There are quite a few people who claim that the bible is allegory...stories to explain what primitive men didn't have the science to explain. In other words, science is the how, while god is the why.

Honestly, I don't see the 2 as compatible at all, since one deals with the natural world, and the other the supernatural. The things that god is reported to have done violate the laws of nature and the universe...things that science is bound by.

Answer 3

Sure. Many scientists believe in God. Albert Einstein for one.

To be honest, science actually makes more sense if you involve God in it. You have to think of some fairly off-the-wall and complicated stuff without him. Like the evolving from one species to another (I believe we evolve and adapt, but not into completely different species. That can't happen either in leaps or gradually. At least, not if you exclude God). I doubt that without God we will ever develop wings, even if there becomes a necessity for it. With him, though, I can see that development coming. And it's simple! Isn't that great! AND it makes sense! Sometimes the truth and what makes the most sense is the most simple answer there is. It doesn't always need to be mind-boggling and complex.

Answer 4

You can use philosophy, that's a science of thought because it uses logic and reasoning, and is backed up with the science of linguistics. As for empirical science, you could use astronomy or engineering to show the precision of nature, but that'll get you some arguments.

I'd go with Buddhism. There's a book called "The quantum lotus" which talks about Buddhism and science co-existing.

Answer 5

Medicine/Health - Read the Levitical Laws. All that God told the Hebrews to do. Turns out that obeying them keeps us healthy. We really shouldn't eat pork or catfish, etc.

Genesis - Says God made all the animals, plants, humans - and that they'll all reproduce after their own kind. Turns out that's what observable science tells us too. In fact, when we try to "mix" plants or animals to "improve them, we end up with an "it", that cannot reproduce at all (mule, hybrid striper, seedless grapes, etc)

Psychology/Sociology/Human Interaction - Read ANYTHING in Proverbs. It's truth. And it works.

Evolution/Creation - Evolution says that animals "stretched" to become what was needed (example being giraffe). Creation says God made the animals less than 10,000 years ago. We only use about 8 - 12% of our brain's capability. If evolution were true, when did humans "stretch" to need such a large brain? Instead, Adam was made, able to use it all. Mankind has actually been "de-evolving", and using less and less of what we were given originally. That agrees with the scientific third law of thermodynamics - things in a system in motion go from specific to general (winding down). Evolution says that the planet did the opposite - went from general (primordial slime) to specific (today's plants and animals).... very unscientific if you ask me.

Answer 6

ok, i'm gonna tell u exactly what i think, u can agree with me or totalli disagree, but its simply my opinion! :]] God and Science, i think its the difference between black and white! either u believe in God, or u believe in Science. me personali, i believe in God, therefore, science makes no sense what so ever to me! i don't believe it...i'm sure sum of it can be true, but just like many athiest believe, how can the bible be true, someone just wrote it a long time ago and it got passed down, well to me thats how i feel about a science book! how can they not believe the Bible but they can a crazi science book?!? on the other hand God could be a science, a science of ur heart? have u asked for his forgiveness? have u confessed ur sins? well if not, u could chemically erupt in a bottomless pit of an atomic element, sulfer! right?

Answer 7

I don't know about a reference but check out what big bang, abiogenesis and evolution say. There is nothing that prohibits God from having started it. They just describes mechanisms for things to happen. There was an article in Time about God that was a discussion between two scientists one of whom was Christian, it may help you. I don't remember the title of the article but it was on the cover.

Answer 8

Here's the Catholic perspective:

http://www.its.caltech.edu/~nmcenter/sci-faith.html

From: "Faith can never conflict with reason." (By Pope John-Paul II):
http://www.its.caltech.edu/~nmcenter/sci-cp/sci-9211.html
"Those who engage in scientific and technological research admit as the premise of its progress, that the world is not a chaos but a "cosmos"- that is to say, that there exist order and natural laws which can be grasped and examined, and which, for this reason, have a certain affinity with the spirit. Einstein used to say: "What is eternally incomprehensible in the world is that it is comprehensible".(9) This intelligibility, attested to by the marvellous discoveries of science and technology, leads us, in the last analysis, to that transcendent and primordial Thought imprinted on all things."
- Pope John-Paul II

From "Evolution and the Pope":
http://www.catholic.net/RCC/Periodicals/Dossier/0102-97/Article3.html
"Must faithful Catholics accept evolution as true? No, but they *may* accept it, with the proper theological qualifications in place, without contradicting their faith. Whether man's body actually evolved from a subhuman species isn't, as such, a theological issue even if, indirectly, it may have some theological implications; it is mainly a question of scientific evidence. Perhaps John Paul agrees with those who think the scientific evidence supports evolution. But Catholics, as Catholics, are not obliged to hold that scientific assessment."

Answer 9

God isn't really compatible with science. 'Science' is not a body of knowledge it is a method, it involves coming up with a hypothesis after observing the world then gathering facts to fit or reject the hypothesis and then constantly questioning your assumptions, nothing is ever 100% certain if you use the scientific method. Contrast this with religion and how it treats its holy books.

God used to be a method of filling in the gaps in our knowledge, as those gaps are closed there is less and less need for god, such that this 'god of the gaps' is rarely invoked now.

Answer 10

God and religion deal with the supernatural. Science deals with the natural world. The two would never been in opposition.

If you're Christian or Jewish, the Book of Job says, "Speak to the earth, and it shall teach you."